Today, the U.S. Census Department released its monthly New Residential Home Sales Report for December showing a notable monthly decline with sales falling 7.3% since November but rising 8.8% above the level seen in December 2011 and remaining at an historically low level of 369K SAAR units.
It's important to recognize that the inventory of new homes appears to now be bouncing around a very low 151K units, near the lowest level seen in in at least 47 years while the median number of months for sale has improved to 4.6.
The monthly supply increased to 4.9 months while the median selling price increased 13.86% and the average selling price increased 15.63% from the year ago level.
The following chart show the extent of sales decline to date (click for full-larger version).
